Cartoon Brew
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Change is Good
by brewmasters
February 12, 2007 3:22 am


Welcome everybody!

It’s been a long time coming and here finally is the new Cartoon Brew.

Cartoon Brew launched in March 2004 and in the nearly three years that it’s been up, we’d never bothered to redesign the blog. When we finally decided to update the look, we not only wanted to make it more elegant and easier to look at (fixed column widths anybody), but also to add functionality that had been missing from the original design. To that extent, we’ve added post categories, individual page entries, article search/sharing capabilities, better organized monthly archives, and yessirree, the oft-requested ability for user comments.

None of this would have been possible without our incredible designers (Jenny Volvovski, Julia Rothman and Matt Lamothe) at Also Design. We’ve been working with Also on another big project as well so stay tuned. These guys can do it all whether it’s web design, graphic design, Flash or anything else you can imagine, and both of us Brewmasters are thrilled with what they’ve been able to do for us.

A few house notes:
* To make things less confusing, we’re keeping comments closed on all posts prior to the redesign. But posts on CartoonBrew from today forward will typically have comments open. If you have any questions about the ground rules for commenting on Cartoon Brew, check out these notes.

* Most of our older posts are not categorized. So when you click on categories, keep in mind that they are only for posts from January 07 forward. Time-permitting, we will go back and try to categorize some of the older posts.

We’d love to hear what you think of the new look. We’ll be working over the next few days to iron out any kinks so let us know if you encounter any issues. Let the posting and commenting begin!

02/12/07  3:34am
GagaMan says:

I was hoping a comments feature would be added at some point. I visit here every day, I often have something to say on the subjects posted. The new design is also quite nice, especially without all the black. Good choice of colours, except maybe the red stands out a bit too hard. Otherwise, loving it.

02/12/07  3:49am

Wow! Love the look, and it’s great that we can add comments. Great job Brewmasters!!!

02/12/07  4:16am

Great look, very fantastic!

02/12/07  4:18am
Chia says:

The new site looks great and I’m loving all the new functionality that’s been added! I’m looking forward to exploring the site more deeply and testing out all the new features. The first of which, posting this comment.

02/12/07  4:19am

Woah! What a surprise! Great new look fellas. Good luck with your latest ventures. Comments feature is a good addition.

02/12/07  4:34am
Andre says:

I love the new site design! And the ability to add comments. This is one of my favorite blogs.

02/12/07  4:45am

Very nice! I like the new search functions. Bravo

02/12/07  5:09am

Congrats on the redesign!

I hope the comments section can stay open and freak-show-free!

Keep up the good work, guys!

02/12/07  5:20am
Jpox says:

Great new, sleek look guys!
Love the search function and the ability to leave comments! Kudos!

02/12/07  5:35am
Aleks Vujovic says:

Love the new look! And the new logo is…just bravo. Really simple but really awesome. Good to see a change - i check this site out several times a day!

02/12/07  5:35am
Suzanne says:

I enjoy a daily dose of Cartoon Brew and must give you a big “thumbs up” for your new look. Bravo!

02/12/07  5:36am
James says:

This looks great, and I love the new logo! The search feature is also a welcome addition.

02/12/07  5:38am
Tiffany says:

Quite the surprise on a Monday morning, gentlemen. I’m intrigued by the upcoming Chris Robinson column.

02/12/07  5:49am

the new design is a real improvement!
well organized, nice colors.

i like it!

02/12/07  5:55am

Bravo - great look, guys. Can’t wait for your next release too.

02/12/07  5:57am

Very nice. It easily uploads and looks nice when it does.

(Will the “columns” on the right link eventually? Chris Robinson’s title is provocative but has no link.) Obviously, I like the addition of the comments; it adds a lot - including spam.

The information you guys offer is enough to get me here several times a day, now it looks très sophisticated, too.

02/12/07  6:02am
droosan says:

Wow! This is completely unexpected, and very cool! I, too, visit almost every day .. CB is a great blog, and looks to be getting even better!

02/12/07  6:09am
Jim says:

This is great, looks and feels really nice. Those catagories will prove to be mucho handy.

Congratulations on the new design!

02/12/07  6:57am
joecab says:

Beautiful! Very UPA with the blocks of color and scissors and construction paper cut bottoms. But of course the comments is probably what I’m going to dig the most — it’s been awfully frustrating all this time keeping my big mouth shut.

02/12/07  7:01am

nice one!!

02/12/07  7:12am

Nice job, fellas. You’ve thought of ways to improve on the old version of the site that would never have crossed my mind.

02/12/07  7:24am
Chad says:

YES!!!! I cannot wait to read all of the great discussion that will ensue now that commenting is added. I’m a big reader of this site and read it first thing every morning like some people would the newspaper…this IS the newspaper of the animation world. Congrats on the update…great new look and new features.

02/12/07  7:27am
Chad says:

Oh I forgot to mention… Cartoon Brew FILMS?!!! cool!

02/12/07  7:42am

Congrats on the new look - which is very beautiful and very nice. I’m also so happy for the new format, the ability to post comments, and to link directly to the individual entries.

02/12/07  7:46am

I really like it, great job. I look forward to a long future of the Brew.

02/12/07  7:46am

The new place looks great! I like the new design a lot! Congratulations Jerry and Amid.

02/12/07  7:52am
Tommy says:

Sweet!! Coming here every day I’ve had some things I wanted to comment on, this is going to be great guys, congrats!

02/12/07  7:55am
Glenn says:

Great new look! Same ol brew!

Awesome improvement for sure. Looking forward to more exciting news and commentary! Keep up the good work guys!

-Glenn

02/12/07  7:55am

The site looks great, guys. Hats off to Also. Looking forward to cartoonbrewfilms, too.

02/12/07  8:06am
Steve Wojcik says:

This is outstanding! What a treat on this dreadful Monday morning. I have the blues no longer. I love the colors and the simplicity.

02/12/07  8:18am

Great new look guys. Clean and functional.

02/12/07  8:22am

Elegant and clean! this redesign looks GREAT! I’m checking you guys out every day as it is and this redesign is awesome. the comments function is a long desired feature. well done fellas.

02/12/07  8:23am
Cassidy says:

Love the new logo! I’m a sucker for a good type-based logo, and this one represents your scene perfectly. Excellent work!

02/12/07  8:25am

Elegant design! THE essential animation blog just became even better. Thumbs up to all involved in the redesign.

02/12/07  8:32am

Ooooh… ahhhhh. Looks great guys. Thanks for wanting to make the brew better and better.

02/12/07  8:34am

the revamped Brew looks great guys. my various hats off to you.
-JX!

02/12/07  8:55am

The new brew looks AMAZING! Great job guys!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

02/12/07  8:56am

Now THAT’S an upgrade! Very nice job, gents. Tasteful, even! As much time as I spend here at CARTOON BREW (I really dig the new logo), it’s good to know that the site will no longer be a contributing factor to Internet eyestrain.

Aloha

02/12/07  9:01am

love the new design -

02/12/07  9:02am
Michael Grzyb says:

I love the new site design!

02/12/07  9:08am

I think the new look is great. Nice colors and use of type. It’s good to have comments now too!

02/12/07  9:12am
Dagan says:

Looks fantastic, fellas! :)
My FIRST stop in the morning, ALWAYS!
Kudos and many thanks for all the work you guys put in.
‘Brew’ rocks!

02/12/07  9:17am
Al Young says:

Wonderful! A big step up from the last design. I’m glad to see the much needed comments feature is finally here.

Cheers

02/12/07  9:18am
Poptique says:

Lookin’ good.

02/12/07  9:22am
Ward says:

Excellent design, guys. Big kudos to everyone involved! And having comments can be both a good and bad thing — mostly good. One thing we’ve had problems with comments on a big site like Drawn! is the amount of dingers that come in and always bring the conversation down. Too much poo-pooing. Just rude and insulting comments. Hope you guys keep a lot of that at bay.

Otherwise, I’m really digging the new look! Looking forward to reading what Mr. Robinson has to say.

02/12/07  9:23am

Love the improvements made on your brilliant website, guys. A better layout, plus the comments function is a fantastic idea.

However, I do find the colour scheme a bit drab, but otherwise a great update!

02/12/07  9:29am

Ooh. I want to add my voice the chorus of those who approve. I’ve wondered about the lack of comments for a long time, so I’m excited. And the new design is beautiful.

02/12/07  9:31am
Vincent Waller says:

The new look is very easy on the eyes, and the comments section will shut up some of the complainers….well, I guess it won’t, but it’ll be great fun to read.

02/12/07  9:34am
Lippy says:

Congratulations on the new site, boys!

The “Comments” section is a great addition. I’m seeing alot of friends commenting who I thought I’d lost touch with. This is going to be “THE” hub for yabbering and blabbering. Get ready!

02/12/07  9:38am
brando says:

Looks awesome guys!

02/12/07  9:48am
intergalactic says:

Looks great guys, thanks for all the great stories and inside info on a day-to-day basis!

02/12/07  10:14am
Scott W. says:

The new brew looks really cool! Although, I kind of miss the beer/potion logos.

02/12/07  10:15am
Corey says:

wow, looks nice!

02/12/07  10:20am
Kyle Maloney says:

very nice. the addition of comments is something Ive been wanting for a long time now. I never understood why it wasnt enabled before.

02/12/07  10:35am

Now THIS is a big change! As a regular reader of Cartoon Brew, I must say, this change is quite fresh. Although I was okay with this blog having no comments, they’re quite welcome, and may offer some interesting views from other readers and those in the animation community (being an aspiring animator/cartoonist myself).

Keep up the great work! I look forward to more posts.

02/12/07  10:39am
Jon Cooke says:

Keep up the great work, Jerry & Amid! The update looks fantastic.

02/12/07  10:47am
Paul says:

One minor problem I noticed with the RSS feed. It still points to the archive, which is a problem by itself, but the archive doesn’t seem to work the same as it did before because the links all just go to the most recent article.

Anyway, now that you have permalinks for each article, the RSS feed should just point to that.

Other then that the new site is great. Good job all.

02/12/07  10:55am

fresh logo, fresh layout, fresh “comments” addition. omigoto!

02/12/07  11:12am

The Amazing Amidi Does It Again! Congrats on the amazing new look. Can’t wait to see what you have in store for us with Brew Films!

02/12/07  11:26am
tom says:

At last, a convenient way to tell you how much I like CB and how much I admire you guys!

This is wonderful.

02/12/07  11:29am
anthony fontaine says:

Very well-done. The new design is much better than the old design.

Props to Jerry and Amid!

02/12/07  11:34am

Animated thumbs up

02/12/07  11:40am

Looks good, guys. Keep up having the best blog on the web!

02/12/07  11:54am

Whoa.

Usually when websites undergo redesigns and facelifts they end up looking uglier.
What a nice rare exception.

Warm colors and a pink and grey color palette really set the mood.
It really looks lovely.

02/12/07  11:59am

I absolutely LOVE the logo…well thought out. This is a great upgrade to a great blog.

02/12/07  12:13pm
Soos says:

I like the design, but that bright red search box is burning a hole in my corneas.

02/12/07  12:14pm

Congrats on the new look. Awesome work. I also like that you are going to open up the site for comments. So far the only broken link I’ve found is the Chris Robinson column Arhives is “not found” .

02/12/07  12:25pm
Anne says:

Awesome! I love the new comments feature and logo. Great work, guys!

02/12/07  12:34pm

Nice new design! Clean, classy, and elegant. Very cool!

02/12/07  12:37pm

The old layout looked better.

02/12/07  12:59pm

Nice redesign. The site has been acting weird the last couple days, I guess now we know why. I think the comments section is a nice addition, and the required email should hopefully cut down on the amount of trolls. Keep brewing, and I’ll keep reading, or drinking, or whatever.

02/12/07  1:10pm

Looks great ! Can’t wait to see what new stuff you have in store for all of us …

:)

02/12/07  1:20pm
amid says:

Thanks to all who have commented so far! It’s awesome—and even a bit surprising—to see that so many of you are digging the new look as much as we are. To everybody who’s asked about the Chris Robinson column, that’ll debut very soon. Sorry that it’s a dead link for the moment.

02/12/07  1:26pm
Mukpuddy says:

Awesome new design guys!!!

02/12/07  2:09pm

Really cool look, guys! I think the comments feature is going to become very interesting indeed… You just made a fantastic site all the more so.

Looking forward greatly to cartoonbrewfilms.com too!

02/12/07  2:09pm
Makinita says:

Wow, sweet design guys. I read your Blog everyday and it’s great, but now with comments makes it super awesome. Now you know what kind of weirdos read your blog… me included, hee hee.

Cheers Brewsters !!

02/12/07  2:10pm

Wowsers! Very nice job with the new look. Reminds me of a nice dessert. Delicious and nutritious! Like always, looking forward to what you write about next.

02/12/07  2:14pm
Lisa T says:

Love the new re-design guys! And thanks for opening up the comments area!

02/12/07  2:23pm
amelia says:

Great new look Brewmasters! So glad to see you have a comments section now, and I must say it does look much more organized than your previous design. Love it!

02/12/07  3:39pm

As a longtime regular reader, I like the update to your blog.

Well done, Jerry and Amid.

02/12/07  5:04pm

I do like the addition of the comments feature, as I suspect many of us have felt the desire to respond to some of your articles from time to time. However, I must be the voice of dissent regarding your new ‘cb’ logo. I find it to be drab and corporate - not nearly as fun and cartoony as your old logo. I’m really surprised everybody is so complimentary on it. Ah well…

02/12/07  5:21pm
Jerry P. says:

Looks nice overall, but I don’t understand the attraction for fixed column widths. They’re always much to narrow on my monitor.

02/12/07  5:27pm
Evan Spiridellis says:

YeeHawwwww!!! Hats off to you guys. I had heard rumblings that this was coming and you pulled it off magnificently!

02/12/07  5:32pm
fluffy says:

How about putting an entry in the old RSS feed about how the site’s been changed and so has the RSS feed location? I was wondering why there weren’t any posts on the ‘Brew today, until I decided to navigate here directly!

Also on that note, the current feed is broken (it just puts out a blank document).

02/12/07  6:03pm

Wow.
I was stunned to see the revamped site today–I wondered for a second if I’d somehow wound up somewhere else. Happily not so. It’s a very elegant layout, and a great new logo! Also pleased to see the comments addition.
Onward & upward for ‘07!

02/12/07  8:01pm
k. borcz says:

Wow! I really like the new style.

02/12/07  8:47pm
Kino Kid says:

Change is good when it looks like this.

As it happens every new day, I look forward to something new from you guys. This isn’t what I meant, but… OK!

02/12/07  9:57pm

Jerry and Amid, you guys have become two of the most valuable contributors to the cartoon business. Hat’s off to your new venture. I hope we can all help make you successful.

02/12/07  11:16pm
Josh says:

Looks great. Cheers!

02/13/07  12:54am
James Kormann says:

Nice job on the redesign, Jerry and Amid. Keep up the fantastic work.

02/13/07  1:17am

Jerry and Amid, congratulations! Your commitment to animation art lovers via your site has paid off richly. Great sleek design. I LOVE CARTOONBREW!

02/13/07  3:56am
Lucy Anne says:

Thank you for adding in search!

Unfortunately, the RSS feed link that’s up sends you to an error page. This link seems to work though.
http://www.cartoonbrew.com/atom.xml

Are you planning on creating a full text feed at some point?
And that link, like the index.rtf one, is only going to the older posts.
If someone can post to the old feed what the new feed’s URL is, it’d be appreciated.

Thanks.

02/13/07  6:03am
David says:

This is interesting. Will take some getting used to. The comments are a plus. Hopefully they won’t get out of hand, but will offer a good oppurtunity to discuss what you guys post. Keep up the great work Jerry and Amid.

02/13/07  6:14am

I like! My daily Brew reading just got better! Thanks for adding the search and comment features.

02/13/07  6:22am

Very nice. I couldn’t believe it when it jumped out at me this morning. Been following every damn day for three years. Keep up the great work!

02/13/07  9:07am

Looks great! I read Cartoon Brew religiously and I’m an atheist! Glad to see Chris Robinson back in print… erm, pixels.

02/13/07  9:31am
JoshWay says:

Looks wonderful. Now my daily read will be even more fun!

02/13/07  10:17am
Chris Sobieniak says:

Aside from being too late to comment about this, I just want to say I LOVE the new logo!

Already the “Cartoon Brew Films” site seems very promising. That logo already has the earmarks of a 16mm canister label, it denotes quality and excellence!

Glad I can post comments here than having to e-mail directly for certain things.

02/13/07  12:04pm

Boy, I’m a real fan of this site but I have to be honest and say that I prefer the old graphics. Retro appeals to me more than post-modern, which always strikes me as a bit arid.

It’s wonderful to be able to comment on things! Mostly I just want to say how grateful I am for the work you’ve done here over the past few years. I’ve discovered so many interesting things that I wouldn’t have known about if it weren’t for this site! Great job, guys!

02/13/07  9:48pm

Awesome look! and comment posting?! sweet. speaking of which, i am comment #100 on this thread :)

02/14/07  1:17am

Well, it’s been a long time coming but it was worth the wait. Elegant, logical and with a little googie modernist flip - the kind we like…
I’m not 100% convinced by the new logo but it’s a nice idea. Onwards!

02/16/07  12:45pm

I’m a little late to the party, but the new site looks fantastic guys. Also Design has done a bang-up job. I can’t wait to see how the other site turns out!

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